Reflect

In 1958, Thomas Merton, a Trappist monk who had lived the previous 17 years at the nearby Gethsemane Monastery, had a mystical experience in the center of downtown Louisville, Kentucky. Standing at the corner of Walnut & 9th, he describes how he was suddenly overwhelmed with a profound sense of connection to everyone around him and to all of life. “If only everybody could realize this!,” he writes. “But it cannot be explained. There is no way of telling people that they are all walking around shining like the sun.” It was a moment of seeing beyond the external appearance of people going about their daily business to a profound awareness of connection and belonging. But here’s a question: Would Merton have had this transcendent experience if he hadn’t been preparing himself through many years of daily practice? While we can’t know the answer, there’s certainly power in preparing ourselves to be open to unexpected and even transcendent insight.